Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus, and in particular, to controlling flash photography.
Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been a technique of flash photography (hereinafter referred to as bounce flash photography) in which an illumination apparatus projects light on a ceiling to irradiate an object with diffuse-reflected light from the ceiling. In such bounce flash photography, the illumination apparatus is capable of indirectly irradiating the object with light instead of directly irradiating the object. As a result, an image can be captured with soft lighting.
Further, there has been a technique for automatically determining an optimum irradiation direction when performing bounce flash photography. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 04-340527 discusses a technique for automatically setting, when performing bounce flash photography, an angle of a flash light emitting unit at which the flash light is emitted towards the ceiling. More specifically, the angle is automatically set based on a distance to a subject above a camera and a distance to an object to be photographed.
However, the technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 04-340527 does not consider the case where a release switch S2 is turned on (i.e., fully pressed) to start a photography operation while the flash light emitting unit is being driven based on calculated angle data. As a result, if the release switch S2 is turned on while the flash light emitting unit is being driven, bounce flash photography is performed at an inappropriate angle. The image is thus unsuccessfully captured as if only a portion of the object is irradiated with the flash light.